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BEFORE

AFTER

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Story

DAWNThe planet Nepentes is a world that revolves around a binary star. Because theaxis of Nepentes is always positioned parallel to the suns, the climate is harshwith the exception of the area near the equator, so an ancient people called thePretarians built an underground civilization. The surface of the south pole ismolten by the scorching heat of the two suns, the north pole is ruined by thickice.

The civilization greatly advanced their scientific capabilities and achievedfurther development. They actively performed gene manipulation and made itpossible for the Pretarians to even live deep within the planet. The ones onwhom the operation failed were released to the surface. The majority died, beingeither burnt alive by the sunlight or frozen. And so people came to live inevery corner of the planet, excluding the poles and the center of the planet.The effect of exhaustingly digging the interior of Nepentes together withextreme erosion expedited the decline of the planet.

Scientists made plans to shift the planet's axis in order to make the climate ofNepentes warmer. On the equator they built a huge wall (the Ring) and installeda centrifugal particle accelerator. Creating a strong magnetic field they triedto correct the position of the planet. This project, that cost many lives andvast amounts of energy, seemed to work well in the early stages. Moving theplanet's axis little by little the planet's temperature began to level. However,when the project reached halfway, a tremendous spontaneous collapse started. Thevolcanoes in the south caused large eruptions, the glaciers in the north meltedat an abnormal speed and unimaginable tsunami swept across the northernhemisphere. These disasters shook Nepentes and destroyed the underground cities.A small number of people who survived (later called the Eletrians) came to livein the dawn area of the southern hemisphere for a long time. The climate hadbecome a little warmer, but civilization had regressed hundreds of years.

At the same time on the northern hemisphere, separated by the wall when theclimate suddenly changed, people on whom genetic manipulation failed revivedfrom among the melting ice and by coupling with cold-blooded animals from thepolar regions they gave birth to new species. Most of the inferior speciesperished straight away. Two races survived: the Azumural and the Ghouls. Theirreproductive rate and intelligence were surprisingly high. Both the Ghouls andAzumural had a belligerent nature, but since there was a wide and deep crevicebetween both countries they didn't know about each other's existence.

THE AGE OF WARIt was clear to anyone that King Dois XIV of the Ghouls was the cause. He wasborn being a member of the dominant Dji tribe, (the Dji tribe, the cruelestrace, occupied the large majority of the Ghoul troops). Because he went aheadwith self-indulgent policies in support of the military, life of the generalpopulace became poor and their dissatisfaction kept growing day by day. Theincompetent ruler came up with a simple solution. In short, he decided to turnthe dissatisfaction of the masses outward. So first of all among relativelydocile minority races the Ghoul army was sent to the entire area (the land ofthe Eletrians).

Thus the Eletrian invasion by the Ghouls started. The Eletrians who didn't knowabout military strategies simply tried to escape and were quickly driven to themountainous regions in the south. Though the swift attack was insufficient forthe Ghoul army to settle it, in the blink of an eye one third of the Eletrianswere killed and half of the territory became Ghoul country.

It was 20 months later that the Eletrian counterattack started. They defeatedeveryone from the Ghoul army with Guerrilla tactics, moving quickly across thevast terrain. In a surprise attacks Ghoul soldiers who were completelyunprepared for this, without time to arrange their formations, became prisonersone after another. The leader of the counteroffensive was the Eletrian princeLord Fashua. He is young, intelligent, has abundant energy and there is no onewho has a better sword arm. He is well known for taking the lead and advancingthe fight. He inspired young men to volunteer to become soldiers. This time thebeginning kingdom of Eletria had something of an organized army.

Quickly the natural scientific capabilities of the Eletrians recovered becausetheir industrial power excelled. The dominance of the Ghouls crumbling away,they pushed back to near the Ring. The Ghoul army joined the reinforcementsthere and was barely able to stop the advance of the Eletrian army. The Ghoularmy which had lost many elite troops temporarily pulled back their soldiers toreorganize. Since the Eletrians were also exhausted, they didn't chase them farand they watched the movement of the Ghoul army. Both armies glared at eachother with the Ring dividing them. The Ring became a buffer zone from then on.Though occasional skirmishes occurred, still the Ghoul army launched a largeoffensive once every several years in order to remember them. Each time Eletriarepelled them and this continued for several decades and so it began to changeinto a marsh. Because of the constant war, the people were impoverished and theland had gone to ruin.

THE AZUMURALThe time had come to put an end to the long and unproductive battle. This wasbrought about by the Azumural, the third race that came from the heavens. Whileboth countries were fighting, the Azumural steadily developed their scientificcapabilities and in the end even acquired aviation technology. They got to knowabout the world beyond the Ring. Because of their brutal nature they made atemporary alliance with the Ghouls and invaded Eletria. The balance of fightlargely deteriorated and the Eletrians barricaded themselves in the lastremaining fortress Nesha Castle. Even though the castle was boasted to beimpregnable, it couldn't withstand the new weapons of the Azumural like theflying tanks and it surrendered after only three days.

Banutracus, leader of the Azumural, ignored the advice of the Ghouls andcold-bloodedly executed the captured Lord Fashua, who was a legendary warrior tothe Eletrian people. Banutracus not only persuaded the Azumural soldiers toplunder, raiding people's homes, he personally took the lead. He went aroundlaying waste to the area and exhausted the limits of injustice.

Though the Ghouls and the Azumural had cooperated as allied forces, on thefrontline the behavior of the Azumural turned around and became oppressivetowards the Ghouls. Ghoul Division Commander Gui, not having the cruel streakof Banutracus, betrayed the Azumural. He rescued Fashua's daughter Nesha whowas imprisoned and crossed the desert. They concealed themselves in the depthsof the ancient ruins of an underground civilization that had once flourishedthere.

Nesha sure did detest Gui in the beginning, but soon she opened her heartbecause of his kind spirit. The couple had a child called Ashguine, whoexceeded the genetic differences between the Eletrians and Ghouls. So he spenthis childhood in the ruins and eventually he became a promising young man.

PLANETARY LIFE-FORM "VIE"In the end even with the Gui family living hidden underground he stretched outhis grip of suppressive force. Both his parents were captured and murdered byBanutracus. Escaping the spot reminding of their inevitable deaths, Ashguinewent even deeper underground to the temple, upon which he got into contact withthe planetary life-form "Vie". Being the core of Nepentes, it was the life forceof the planet itself. "Vie" hated the murderer Banutracus who spreadcatastrophe across Nepentes which was still restoring itself. So the planetarylife-form informed Ashguine about the teleporters scattered across Nepentessince ancient times. Promising to support him, "Vie" gave him a powerful weapon.

Ashguine, who now had attained the power of "Vie", has become the warrior oflegends. He starts on his journey to Gizemahl Castle, the castle of his mortalenemy Banutracus.